An easier way to qualify for long-term care insurance

It’s imperative that we continue to look for alternate ways to manage the long-term care (LTC) risk, and that’s how I’ve been spending much of my time.

For example, I’m looking at a number of annuities that provide long-term care benefits. Why annuities? Because underwriting for traditional LTC insurance has become rather challenging. For those of you who don’t know, “underwriting” is the process an insurance company uses to determine if a person’s health is good enough to allow that person to have a policy.

With long-term care insurance, it is especially challenging to insure people with progressive conditions like diabetes with complications, multiple joint replacements, stroke survivors, or people who are weight-challenged. So I am looking at annuities with limited or no health questions with some exciting results. Some in particular allow the annuitant to enjoy extraordinary market growth with no risk of loss. After I’ve sold a few more of these, I’ll share that information with you.

In the meantime, here is an example of how the OneAmerica Annuity Care II product works, a product that requires limited health questions to qualify. This example is for a person who is able to self-fund about half of her LTC needs.

Female age 70.

$100,000 deposit in Annuity Care II which provides a total initial benefit of $353,359

This provides a total of at least 96 months with 5% compound inflation on the benefit extension.

I’m saying “a minimum of” because this is a reimbursement policy…any amount greater than the charge for care each month remains in the pool.15 Years later she has a claim.

At age 85, first 24 Months Benefit on base is still $3,681 Next 72 months at age 87 the monthly benefit is: $8,172 and grows each year at 5% compound

Total combined benefit at age 85: $621,601

In a nutshell, this 70 year old lady leveraged her $100,000 3 to 1 immediately and 6 to 1 in 15 years.

Now, as good as this sounds, she would want to look at her other resources and make sure she can truly afford to self-insure the difference between the benefit and the cost of care in 15 years, which in most parts of the country will be about $13,500 a month.

This product is available for applicants up to age 80 but once you have it you can keep it forever, just like long-term care insurance. Since there are limited health questions on this product, it is a little easier to get than a traditional long-term care insurance policy. Unlike traditional long-term care insurance however, the annuity account value can be passed on to a beneficiary if the policyholder doesn’t need long-term care. Click here for a product brochure. Annuity Care 2 – Client Brochure

6 comments

Lily M

Hi Phyllis, I was referred here through Suze Orman’s site. Is the Annuity Care II product Medicaid compliant for the state of Florida, and also for California? With the partnership programs there needs to be an inflation protection included, so if I include that, will I be eligible for “asset disregard” or “asset protection”? Right now I live in FL but may move closer to my daughter in CA. Thanks very much in advance. Lily

Hi Lily. The Annuity Care II is not an approved LTC Partnership product in any state. Only traditional LTC insurance plans can be approved as a Partnership policy with the asset protection equal to the benefits paid out. However, even if you bought one in Florida or any other Partnership state, California won’t honor it. California only honors the California Long-Term Care Partnership policies. It’s the only state out of the 42 states that have a Partnership that isn’t reciprocal. If you would like my help in helping you with a Partnership policy, please take a moment and complete the short questionnaire here.

LTC insurance is ultimately all provided by an insurance company, Elnora. You can buy it through licensed insurance professionals in all of the places that you mentioned. The most important thing is to deal with someone who is very knowledgeable about long-term care insurance so that he or she can assess your personal situation and make the best recommendation for YOU. If you do not have someone like that in your life, I’m happy to help you. Just go to https://www.gotltci.com/contact-us/ and complete the short questionnaire to let me know you are interested in my help. Whomever you deal with, I commend you on seeking out information and planning for long-term care. It is so very, very important.

Sorry about that. It seems to be working now. I emailed you the AnnuityCare II client brochure. Please email me at phyllis@gotltci.com and let me know if you didn’t receive it or if you would like to talk about how it works. Thanks Linda.